Crime Life: Gang Wars Review

Check your ride and strap on your colors, because Konami and Hothouse Creations are offering up a $19.99 slice of hip-hop-imbued gang life with the release of Crime Life: Gang Wars. First and foremost, since the contentious arrival of Grand Theft Auto III and its massive sandbox, free-roaming approach to â€˜life on the street,â€™ many imitators have attempted to sponge some profit from the deep well of creativity lovingly hollowed by Rockstar Gamesâ€™ series. The abrasive gangland mentality has been prevalent in a whole host of videogame releases over the past few years, and itâ€™s certainly on show in Crime Life: Gang Wars. However, seeing as comparisons to GTA are always likely to be made, how well does Crime Life: Gang Wars perform beside such adored competition?

In gameplay terms, Crime Life: Gang Wars exists as a free-roaming endeavor to some degree, and the player will certainly have plenty of opportunities to navigate the environment alongside fellow Outlawz members. However, Grand Central City is somewhat limiting in terms of scope and interaction, as well as player inaccessibility when it comes to commandeering street vehiclesâ€”all of which heavily damage the explorative sandbox gameplay mechanic. Defining plot-based gameplay is executed through various poorly realized gang-related missions (obviously), like hooking up with other gang members, committing robberies, applying graffiti to city walls, and â€˜taking downâ€™ rival characters.

Visually speaking, it really wouldnâ€™t be unfair to say that Crime Life: Gang Wars may be one of the worst Xbox titles to ever clang gracelessly onto the system. Character models suffer from poor production value throughout, and facial mapping is seriously generic in nature; there are perhaps a dozen original designs spread throughout the entire gameâ€™s cast. Character animation is unforgivably staccato in terms of composition, especially during moments of intense combat when the screenâ€™s fighting contingent jerks around with anything but a feel of true human movement. Furthermore, the surrounding environments offer no respite either, and Grand Central City is mainly constructed from rinse-and-repeat building designs that soon grow from tiresome to just plain awful.

Aurally, Crime Life: Gang Wars proudly states that rap collective D12 lent their â€˜voicesâ€™ and â€˜likenessesâ€™ to the gaming experienceâ€”though if that is the case, they all must be glaringly generic in real life. But, while perhaps risking the wrath of D12, it must be said that the spoken dialogue throughout Crime Life is so skin-crawlingly bad, that the relatively serious subject matter the game intermittently tries to convey appears almost comical in its realization. The soundtrack does offer â€˜25+ bass thumpinâ€™â€™ hip-hop tracks that emanate from all over the globe, which, amongst others, include D12 (naturally, got to exploit that marketing dollar all the way), Doom Man, and Jason Flemyng. Of course, the hip-hop soundtrack is also fairly run-of-the-mill for this kind of game, though the GTA series cleverly utilizes the car radio system in order to keep the game more accessible to a much wider audience of taste. No such luck here. If you like international rap, youâ€™re in for a treat. If not, wellâ€¦

So, whatâ€™s left to say? With a simple yet wholly deficient control mechanic that renders fighting anything but entertaining, a supposed free-roaming environment thatâ€™s somewhat limiting, poorly executed graphics and characters, and laughably bad sound, Crime Life: Gang Wars is barely worthy of the bargain bucketâ€”and with its reduced price tag, itâ€™s almost there already. A more attuned and original storyline, defined and accessible controls, subtle attention to the rudiments of animation, and a genuinely talented voice cast could have seen the emergence of a far better game. As it is, Crime Life: Gang Wars is probably best avoided.